The company's purpose is to acquire, hold, administer and sell participations in other companies and businesses in Switzerland and abroad in any form. The Company may establish branches and subsidiaries in Switzerland and abroad, hold participations in other companies, represent third parties, as well as carry out any commercial activity and conclude any type of agreement that may serve to promote the purpose of the Company, or that are directly or indirectly related to it. The Company may acquire, hold, administer, encumber and sell real estate in Switzerland and abroad. Transactions prohibited by the Federal Act on the Acquisition of Real Estate by Foreigners (LAFE) are excluded. The Company is part of a Group and, in pursuing its corporate purpose, may take into account the interests of the group. In particular, the Company may grant loans or other direct or indirect financing, including those within the framework of cash pooling agreements (including zero balancing), to companies directly or indirectly controlled and to third parties, including its direct or indirect shareholders and companies directly or indirectly controlled by them; to secure the obligations contracted by them, the Company may provide guarantees or collateral of any kind, including pledges on the Company's assets or fiduciary assignments of the same. All this may also occur without consideration, on preferential terms, interest-free, by waiving the Company's profit-making purpose and/or assuming significant risks (cluster risks).